SATYAM ANANTAM JNANAM

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juxtaposed. The word,  ̳jnanam‘ means

consciousness. Juxtaposed with the words,  ̳satyam‘ and  ̳anantam‘, it negates the

idea of the agent of knowing. If Brahman be the agent of knowing, satyam and

anantam cannot be part of the definition. If It is the agent of knowing, It becomes

changeful and so cannot be satyam. That indeed is infinite which is not limited by

anything. (cf. another Vedic text, ‘The Infinite is that where one does not know

anything else‘. If it is the agent of knowing, it becomes delimited by the knowable

and the knowledge, and hence there cannot be infinitude (anantam). ...Besides, if It

has such distinctive attributes as becoming the agent of knowing, It cannot logically

be pure existence.

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It is called the Internal Ruler, Iswara. The

same atma, nirupadhika, absolute and pure, by nature is called the Immutable, the

Supreme (aksharam, para). Similarly, having the limiting adjuncts of the bodies

and organs of Hiranyagarbha, the Undifferentiated, the gods, the species, the

individual, man, animal, spirits etc., and the atma assumes the particular names

and forms. Thus we have explained through the Sruti vakyam  ̳It moves and does

not move‘ (Isavasya 5). In this light alone such texts as  ̳This is your atma (within

all) ( Brhadaranyaka 3.4.1,2 and 3.5.1), ―He is the inner self of all beings (Mundaka

2.1.4),  ̳This (Brahman) is hidden in all beings‘ ( Katha 1.3.12), Thou art That

( Chandogya 5.8.7),  ̳I myself am all this‘ (Chandogya 7.25.1),  ̳All this but the

atma‘( Chandogya7.25.1) and  ̳There is no other witness but He‘

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–―He thinks, as it were; He shakes, as it were.‖ (This means that the

original consciousness does not itself think, but when the mind thinks, it appears to

think. Mind, being inert, cannot think, by itself. So, here also, association of the

original consciousness with the mind is envisaged in the form of a reflection). In

his commentary on Brhadaranyaka 2.1.19, which deals with sushupti, Sankaracarya

says, ―The atma caitanyam (vijnaanamaya atma) pervades the intellect with a

reflection of its own consciousness........It follows the nature of its limiting adjunct,

the intellect, just as a reflection of the moon etc, follows the nature of water and so

forth.‖

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Iswara.‖ This is the nirguna Brahman (attributeless Brahman). And

that is identical with our own consciousness. There is no duality whatsoever.

However, with that as the substratum, there is, as a lower order of reality, as

mithya, a superimposition of manifold forms; the combination of the two

appearsto us as objects of the world including living beings. This is the vyavaharika

plane, as distinguished from the paramarthika plane, where there is no universe at

all, not to speak of gods. In the vyavaharika plane, the objects include gods. At the

highest level, there is Iswara, the saguna Brahman (Brahman qualified with the

attributes of omniscience, omnipotence and all pervasiveness), the creator. Iswara

is uncreated (i.e. He is always there, in the vyavaharika plane, without beginning

and without end.). Iswara himself, as reflected consciousness in Maya belongs to

the vyavaharika plane. When Iswara creates the various constituent parts of the

universe, he designates

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